Spirit of St. Louis (train)

Last updated
Spirit of St. Louis
Spirit of St. Louis at Terre Haute (27103339634).jpg
The Spirit of St. Louis at Terre Haute, Indiana in 1970
Overview
Service type Inter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
Locale Eastern United States
Predecessor New Yorker (eastbound)
St. Louisian (westbound)
First serviceJune 15, 1927
Last serviceJuly 1971
Successor National Limited
Former operator(s) Pennsylvania Railroad (1927–1968)
Penn Central (1968-1971)
Amtrak (1971)
Route
Termini New York City
St. Louis, Missouri
Distance travelled1,050.6 miles (1,690.8 km)
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)30 (St. Louis to New York)
31 (New York to St. Louis)
Line(s) used Main Line (Pennsylvania Railroad)
On-board services
Seating arrangementsReclining seat coaches
Sleeping arrangementsRoomettes, double bedrooms (1964)
Catering facilities Dining car
Observation facilities Lounge car
Technical
Timetable number(s)30 (eastbound); 31 (westbound)
Route map
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St. Louis
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Missouri
Illinois
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East St. Louis
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Effingham
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Illinois
Indiana
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Terre Haute
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Indianapolis
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Richmond
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Indiana
Ohio
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Dayton
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Columbus
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Newark
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Ohio
Pennsylvania
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Pittsburgh
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Altoona
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Harrisburg
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Lancaster
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Paoli
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North Philadelphia
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Pennsylvania
New Jersey
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Newark
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New Jersey
New York
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New York

The Spirit of St. Louis was a named passenger train on the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors Penn Central and Amtrak between New York and St. Louis, Missouri. The Pennsylvania introduced the Spirit of St. Louis on June 15, 1927, replacing the New Yorker (eastbound) and St. Louisian (westbound); that September its schedule was 24 hr 50 min each way.

Contents

The name honored the airplane Spirit of St. Louis , [1] flown the month before by Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris. The Spirit of St. Louis remained in service through the inception of Amtrak, who extended it to Kansas City, Missouri along the Missouri Pacific Railroad main line. The train had a competitor in the New York Central Railroad's Southwestern Limited, also running from New York to St. Louis.

Amtrak also added a branch from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., via York, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland. In July 1971, to better reflect its new scope, the train was rebranded as the National Limited [2]  — the name of a longstanding train that had been operated by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and had been the principal rival of the Spirit of St. Louis.

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References

Further reading